


Sing

by Emmawritesalot (orphan_account)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25553629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Emmawritesalot
Summary: "Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you."The last words that Rue hears before her eyes close for the last time.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen & Rue
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Sing

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! this is my first story on this website. Pardon if the format is a bit messy, haha.  
> Anyway...  
> I wrote this coming off of a Hunger Games reread, and happened to be listening to "Rue's Farewell" on the Hunger Games soundtrack when doing laundry. You need to listen to it, because it's so good.
> 
> Happy Reading!

District 11 could be worse. 

It isn't all sunshine and rainbows, of course, but Rue is happy there. She has her family, and being able to work up in the trees with the Mockingjays is a small bit of happiness. She lives a relatively stable life and despite the constant hunger, tries to make the best of it, because being the oldest of six means she needs to be the example. 

The people of 11 who know and work with her see her as kind, happy, musical little Rue, who would never hurt a fly. She welcomes the assumption. If she can bring a little bit of happiness into the lives of the miserable, then she has a purpose. 

When she wakes up on reaping day, a terrible fear grips her heart. She's only twelve, so the chances of her being reaped are slim, especially when the enormous population of 11 is considered. So, she helps get her siblings ready while ignoring the churning in her stomach. When they get to the square, she says goodbye to her family and stands by the other 12-year-olds. 

Marleia Pellington, their capitol escort, is a tall, thin woman with long, shockingly electric blue hair. She has pale pink skin, which, combined with the blue hair, gives her the look of a colorful sweet. It makes Rue giggle a bit. Fashion in the Capitol really is ridiculous. 

She drones on and on about the games and their majesty, the mayor reads the Treaty of Treason, and then the reaping is off to a start. The butterflies begin to go wild in her stomach, and she feels as if she might throw up. Marleia reaches her hand into the reaping ball and pulls out a card

 _Not me_ Rue thinks, squeezing her eyes shut, _please not me._

"Rue Lakeson."

_No._

Waves of shock and fear crash over her as she stands unmoving. She's barely conscious of the peacekeepers escorting her to the steps of the justice building. No one volunteers for her. Marleia then hurries to the boy’s reaping ball and pulls out another name. He is a strong, muscular 17-year old named Thresh, and Rue can see that he could take her out in an instant if he wished, and fear begins to take control again.  
The two are quickly thrust into two rooms in the justice building.

The goodbyes to her family are heartfelt and devastating. She tearfully hugs her parents and siblings, and all too soon, they are whisked away. 

And she has a feeling that she will never see them again.

*****************************  
During training, she hovers. She watches the tributes from 12, particularly Katniss. She seems good at survival skills, so maybe copying her would help her in the arena somehow. The boy, Peeta, sees her first, and points her out to Katniss, who turns to face her. Her grey eyes calculating and serious. She shrugs and turns, but not before Rue sees the Mockingjay pin she wears. 

That's when she decides she can trust her. 

The interview goes well, and when Ceaser asks her questions about how she will try to win, she says,

"I'm very fast, and if they can't catch me, they can't kill me, so don't count me out." Ceaser smiles at her, and due to the cheering, maybe the Capitol doesn't see the sadness evident on his face, but she does. 

"I wouldn't in a million years."  
*****************************  
She spends most of her time in the trees. She gathers plants, finds water, and is doing well when the fire comes. She escapes with a minor burn on her forearm, and is hiding in a tree when she sees Katniss running from the careers. Terrified, she backs away further into the tree she resides in. That’s when she notices it. 

A Tracker Jacker nest. She would recognize one anywhere, there were hundreds of them in the orchards where she worked. When she points it out to Katniss, she nods in confirmation. She makes sure to leave before the nest falls down. 

When she finds Katniss again, they make an alliance. They do better together, gathering, sharing supplies, healing each other’s injuries with their respective medicine. They make a plan to ruin the Career’s supplies. And when Rue climbs into the sleeping bag with Katniss, she feels… safe.

The feeling doesn’t last long. 

When they split up the morning their plan begins, she is terrified. Katniss reassures her, and is certain they will see each other again, and Rue feels a tiny bit better. She hears the explosion as she’s climbing the tree after the second fire is lit. The careers turn abruptly and run back to their camp, and Rue breaths a sigh of relief. She feels even more relief when Katniss’s face is not in the sky that night.  
The next day, she wakes up to hear the careers marching in the forest. They’re grumbling about finding the culprit- the one who blew up the food. She’s too nervous to move, so she spends most of the day in the tree. And then she remembers. Katniss. She must be looking for her.

And Rue knows she can’t stay there much longer. The careers will put two and two together eventually and find her. So, she heads for the third fire marker. She leaps from tree to tree, and when she hears the four-note whistle indicating Katniss is safe, she pauses to return it. Those two seconds cause her to lose her momentum and footing. She lets out a loud gasp and hits the forest floor loudly. She scrambles for a bit, and then she springs up and dashes to the nearest tree to climb up. 

She never makes it. She trips over a wire, and all of a sudden, she’s hanging in the air, resting in a net. Panic all but consumes her, and she thrashes around, terrified. It’s useless, there’s nothing she can do, except…

“Katniss!” She screams at the top of her voice, and maybe it isn’t the best choice, but it’s her only option.

“Rue! Rue!” Katniss’s voice rings through the woods, clearly panicked. She bursts into the clearing, and Rue barely has time to say her name once before the spear enters her stomach. 

Pain. So much pain she nearly blacks out. She’s dimly aware of Katniss shooting the boy who threw the spear, and then lying on the forest floor, her head in Katniss’s lap.

“Did you blow up the food?” Rue asks softly. Tears are forming in both their eyes now.

“Every bit of it,” Katniss whispers. Rue grips her hands tightly as if it's her lifeline

“You have to win,” Rue says, and through her tears, looks earnestly into Katniss’s grey eyes. 

“I’m going to,” she says, “Going to win for both of us now.” Rue gasps in pain and looks at Katniss again.

“Can you sing?" Rue asks quietly. It may be an odd request, given that Katniss’s face shows some surprise and confusion, but she nods, opens her mouth, and lets the notes ring out through the forest. 

_Deep in the meadow, under the willow.  
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow.  
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes.  
And when again they open, the sun will rise._

Rue has never heard this song before, but it gives the illusion that she is in a faraway place, home in 11 with her mother. Warm and safe. Not in this place called the Hunger Games, where it’s cold, miserable, and deadly.

_Here it’s safe, and here it’s warm.  
Here the daisies guard you from every harm._

Katniss’s voice is beginning to fade. The world is beginning to blur. She should be terrified; she’s leaving the world. And yet, in Katniss’s arms, she feels alive.

_Here your dreams are sweet,_  
and tomorrow brings them true.  
Here is the place where I love you. 

Thank you, she thinks. 

And her eyes flutter shut

**Author's Note:**

> There you go!!
> 
> 9/7/2020 EDIT: Okay, I've edited this story in format, and a little bit of execution. I hope it's a bit better


End file.
